While the aviation personnel and the government officials are currently making efforts to track down the legitimacy of UFO, a Serbian-American inventor had already filed a patent for it a decade back. All of this happened despite the world-renowned scientists disregarding the concept of flying machines, towards the end of the 19th century.
Nikola Tesla, the man behind a lot of scientific breakthroughs, was the first one to design a practical design for a flying saucer or, as we call it, UFO.
Tesla’s “Flying Saucer”
In 1928, Nikola Tesla registered a controversial patent. The patent claimed itself to be the “World’s First Flying Saucer”. This was groundbreaking for Tesla. This is because he had utilised the prowess of Electromagnetic force instead of Gravitational. Among the two, Electromagnetic force is said to be powerful. Hence if this Flying Saucer was to be a reality, then it might as well be the fastest aircraft.
Scientifically, the Electromagnetic force is (2.2 x 10^39) stronger than the Gravitational. To put it into perspective, if the energy required for mechanically lifting a block at a distance of one-quarter of a millimetre is, say X. If the same energy given to the block using Electromagnetic force, it could lift the block (5.6 x 10^24) km. That is how powerful the aircraft propelled using Electromagnetic force would be!
The design of Tesla’s Flying saucer aptly matches the descriptions of those who claimed to have seen a UFO from the inside. The basic design consists of a discoidal capacitor and a set of other small capacitors. The discoidal capacitor provides the thrust while remaining capacitors help in controlling the direction of the drive. His model also includes a gyroscopic stabilization system along with electric drive control.
The structure of Tesla’s flying machine resembles both helicopter and aeroplane. It looks like a torpedo. This is because of the fact that the inner surface of his machine consists of circular channels. circle all through the centre of the craft.
These channels carry a high voltage and a high-frequency coil. A resonant transformer is included in the design for giving electrostatic and electromagnetic load to the craft. This coil placed inside the craft is called “Tesla Coil”, one among Tesla’s early inventions.
While this forms the structure, the driving force for Tesla’s flying machine is something called ” Magnetohydrodynamics”. This was first observed by Michael Faraday. The underlying principle for this mechanism is that, when a high-frequency, high-voltage alternating current is applied to a pair of metal plates, a magnetic field is generated as a result of this AC. This magnetic and electric field is at right angles to each other. Both fields together constitute for propulsion thrust at a direction mutually perpendicular to both Electric Field and Magnetic Field.
This force is not a result of any ejection of matter(Newton’s Third Law), but purely due to the reaction against the solid-state condition of space-time. This reaction is aided by the high-frequency electromagnetic pulsing of that area of space. Hence, the thrust depends on frequency, not fuel.
Tesla had direct contact with extraterrestrial intelligence before patenting his flying saucer
Just outside of Colorado Springs, Tesla built an Experimental Station for studying the high-voltage, high-frequency electricity in wireless power transmission in 1899. Unbeknownst to Tesla, his radio experiments from 1899 resulted in a huge row of conspiracy theories. At one point in time, amidst his experiments, he noticed a strange signal from his receiver. He believed it might be communications from another planet.
The place where Nikola Tesla intercepted the signals. He was studying wireless power transmission
“I have a deep conviction that highly intelligent beings exist on Mars
,While experimenting in Colorado…I obtained extraordinary experimental evidence of the existence of life on Mars…” Tesla told the media following his Colorado experiments. “I caught signals which I interpreted as meaning 1–2–3–4. I believe the Martians used numbers for communication because numbers are universal.”
There are rumours that this incident was the motivation behind Tesla’s Flying saucer invention.
Lack of funding
Despite concrete designs, Tesla’s Flying saucer remained a fiction. The main reason for this is the lack of funding. Following his dispute with Thomas Edison, it was hard for him to get any investors. Edison funded a lot of projects from Guglielmo Marconi, Tesla’s rival. He didn’t pay any attention to Tesla’s futuristic innovations.
Although with assistance from the financial giant JP Morgan, Tesla slowly started building his concept, the scepticism from his investors about the plausibility of his system made this collaboration short. By then, Edison’s team had made significant progress in their own radio technologies. This forced Tesla to abandon his project altogether.
Tesla on the flying machines of future
In 1926, 2 years before patenting his flying saucer, Tesla claimed that flying machines would be the future for hassle-free and quick transportation.
“Perhaps the most valuable application of wireless power will propel flying machines, they will not need any fuel and be free from any limitations of today’s airplanes and airships”, Tesla showed his optimism towards flying machines from the 1926 perspective in an interview with Collier magazine. “Let fly from New York to Europe in a few hours. International borders are largely destroyed and a major step will be taken towards the unification and harmonious existence of various races that inhabit the planet”
Not only flying machines, but Tesla also made a lot of groundbreaking predictions on this interview. He aptly predicted the future of wireless power, mobile phone technology, and even female superiority. Hinting the wireless technology, Tesla claimed that people would be “able to communicate with each other instantly, regardless of distance.”
The U.S secret service seized all of his patents including the Flying Saucer, after his death
Tesla’s insatiable imaginations have revolutionised the modern world. It was his brilliant patent filed in 1928, that made the UFO, an IFO(Identified Flying Object). Nevertheless, the project couldn’t get enough fin ancial projects.
Following his demise, the U.S secret service seized all of his patents. If his inventions were not solid enough, why would the U.S secret service take an interest in his patents? Rumours are that his flying saucer is being analysed closely and being built under the radar.
However, the F.B.I released a statement claiming his inventions had nothing “of significant value to this country”. Upon seizing his works, the property of the Office of Alien Property Custodian. However, shortly after the war, his works mysteriously disappeared.
